Federal Register Notice
May 17, 2007
Volume 72, Number 95

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is hosting a
public meeting to discuss the submission of air carrier traffic,
financial, and consumer reports via a secure internet connection. The
public meeting was requested by the Air Transport Association. DOT
staff will demonstrate e-filing procedures and be available to answer
questions. During the meeting, the DOT will propose a pilot program for
a limited number of air carriers to test the internet filing system
prior to the system becoming operational. A cross section of major,
national, regional, commuter and foreign air carriers will be invited
to volunteer to participate in the pilot program.

DATES: The meeting will be held June 21, 2007, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the new DOT headquarters
building at 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590. The room
number will be announced at a later date. Persons attending the public
meeting must pass through the building security; therefore, we are
requesting that you register for attendance by e-mailing or calling Ms.
Sharon Herman at Sharon.herman@dot.gov or (202) 366-9059.

The notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) was
published on December 20, 2006 (71 FR 76226). You may review comments
to the NPRM at http://www.dms.dot.gov, Docket 26053.

Background

Receiving and processing aviation data is an essential business
process for the DOT. To increase efficiency and reduce costs of the
filing process to both the air carriers and the government, DOT has proposed that all aviation data collected by the BTS be
transmitted via the internet (e-filing). To the maximum extent
practicable, the proposed e-filing system will be user friendly.
Automated, built-in data edits would alert filers of incomplete
information, thus reducing filing errors and the need for corrective
re-processing. E-filing is more secure than attaching files to e-mails.
E-filing does not have the size limit constraints encountered by
attachments to e-mail submissions. E-filing provides the submitters
with immediate confirmation that the filing has been received by BTS.
E-filing should eliminate the need for BTS to key punch hard copy
records into its various data bases.

During this public meeting, DOT representatives will answer
questions about the proposed system, the pilot program and gather
additional public comments. A summary of the public meeting will be
placed in the rulemaking docket.